Opera in the Ozarks (OIO) is pleased to present the very talented 2007 Artistic Staff
Cory Battey - Coach/Répétiteur Cory Battey, pianist and vocal coach, is a native of Fremont, California. He began his study of music at the age of seven. He has studied with the world-renowned concert pianist Joanna Hodges, Professor Claire Wachter, and Professor Alexandre Dossin at the University of Oregon, where he will be entering his fourth year as a piano performance major. He accompanies vocalists and instrumentalists for lessons, performances, recitals, and competitions. Cory plans to study collaborative piano abroad in Germany after completing his degree. Brigitte Bode - Technical Assistant Brigitte Bode, a StillwaterHigh School graduate and Oklahoma resident, is currently attending Oklahoma CityUniversity and will be in her sophomore year as a Theatre Design and Production major. In addition to StillwaterHigh School and OCU, she has also worked at Town and Gown community theatre and has toured with OCU’s productions of Music Man to Alma, Arkansas and Cosi fan tutte to the state and regional levels of The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Jenna Coulombe - Lighting Designer Jenna Coulombehas recently joined the opera community with her work as Assistant Stage Manager for Fresno Grand Opera this past season, where her credits include La Cenerentola, Manon Lescaut, and South Pacific.She has been lighting designer, stage manager and technical director for Children’s Musical Theatreworks (CA) for the past six seasons.Her design credits include: The Who’s Tommy, Side Show, Beauty and the Beast, Seussical the Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Miserables, Footloose, Oliver!, Into The Woods, Wizard of Oz, Dames at Sea, Annie, Scrooge The Stingiest Man in Town, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Dinner with Friends along with many more.Past directorial credits include: Cinderella, Fool For Love, and The Other Five Percent; while assistant directing Into The Woods, Molly Sweeney, and Les Miserables.She was also seen on stage many years ago in such shows as To Kill a Mockingbird, Much Ado About Nothing, Winnie The Pooh, Diary of Anne Frank, Oliver!, and A Christmas Carolto name a few.She received her BA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Barbara with an emphasis in design and directing. Ben Harris - Coach/Répétiteur Ben Harris received his Master of Music Degree in Accompanying from BaylorUniversity. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from OklahomaBaptistUniversity and an Associate of Arts degree in Piano/Organ performance from FrankPhillipsCollege. His principle teachers were David Lutz, John Cozza, Elvia Puccinelli, Jane Abbott-Kirk, Ronald Lewis, Judy Strecker, and Billie Jo Forney. In 2002-03, a Rotary Scholarship enabled Ben to study Lied accompaniment and German in Vienna, Austria. In addition to working with vocalists and instrumentalists, he has accompanied numerous university, symphony, TMEA Region, and church choirs, as well as working as ballet accompanist for the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. Ben has served as a staff accompanist for the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) summer program in Graz, Austria. He has also been heard as a chamber musician on National Public Radio's Performance Today program. He is currently on staff at WesternIllinoisUniversity. Patrick Harvey - Coach/Répétiteur Patrick Harvey earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano from ShorterCollege in Rome, Georgia in April of 2005.Upon graduating from Shorter, he joined the music department staff as a vocal coach-accompanist, assistant choral conductor, and assistant opera director.He is now pursuing a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan, where he studies with Martin Katz.As a soloist, Patrick has been named the Georgia winner and Southern Division honorable mention in the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Piano Competition.He was a selected performer for the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and earned a full scholarship for study at the MozarteumSummerMusicAcademy in Salzburg, Austria.He has performed as a soloist and collaborator in the United States, Austria, England, Italy, and China.Most recently, he attended the inaugural session of the Asolo Song Festival in Asolo, Italy as a recipient of the distinguished Asolo Prize.His previous opera coaching engagements include Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.His upcoming engagement will be Puccini’s La Boheme with the University of Michigan. Matthew Helpert - Assistant Technical Director Matthew is working on his bachelors in technical theatre at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Some of his recent technical theatre works include Edward 2, Jesus Christ Superstar, The King Stag, Paganini, Woyzeck, Dracula, Anything Goes, and Lettuce and Lovage. Suzanne Jameson - Assistant Costumer Sue has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication & Journalism, with an emphasis in Electronic Media Production form CaliforniaStateUniversity, Fresno.Sue has worked in Fresno for Good Company Players since 1977.With GCP, she has designed lights, run audio, stage managed, performed and worked on costumes. Her shows include: The King and I, South Pacific, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Amadeus, A Few Good Men, The Women and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Most recently, Sue has joined Maribel Sorensen on the costume team with the Fresno Grand Opera on Othello, South Pacific, La Cenerentola and Manon Lescaut. Sue has also worked for a Fresno NBC TV station as a camera operator for the evening news. Janet Hui-Chuan Kao - Coach/Répétiteur Pianist, Janet Hui-Chuan Kao has given numerous concerts in the United States, Australia, Spain, and Taiwan.She made her solo debut in the National Concert Hall of Taiwan and her concerto debut with the Taipei Chamber orchestra.Her many awards include first prize in the Puigcerda International Piano Solo Competition in Spain, top prize in the Yamaha piano competition in Taiwan, and designated by the National Concert Hall of Taiwan as the Young Pianist with the Most Potential.Ms. Kao was also awarded an Artist Scholarship by Taiwan's ChiMei Cultural Foundation, and was a prize-winner in the Baltimore Music Club Competition. As an experienced collaborator, Janet Kao has made many appearances in the Los Angeles area with instrumentalists and vocalists.She has been invited to several summer festivals including the MusicAcademy of the West, the Bowdoin Music Festival, the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, and has served as a staff accompanist at the Aspen Music Festival.Currently she is the opera teaching assistant at the University of Southern California. Ms. Kao is currently a doctoral student at the University of Southern California.She received her previous education from The Peabody conservatory, and The Juilliard School.She has studied with Robert McDonald, Jonathan Feldman, Brian Zeger, and Alan Smith. Evan Lewis - Technical Director/Set Designer Evan Lewis is an Adjunct Professor and scenic designer for WilliamPatersonUniversity, in Wayne, NJ where he has designed (among other shows) Blithe Spirit,Defying Gravity, Metamorphoses, and Quilters. He received his Master of Fine Arts from RutgersUniversity in 2005, where he designed the scenery of The Afghan Women, and for colored girls.... He has designed lighting and scenery for Play On! and Anne Frank and Me at the Somerset County Vo./Tech. Institute in Bridgewater, NJ and Peter Pan at the Jewish Community Center in West Orange, NJ. Past summers have been spent as the resident scenic designer for the Croswell Opera House, in Adrian, MI (2005), designing scenery for The Nerd at Pioneer Valley Summer Theatre, in Easthampton, MA, and the technical director for the Papermill Theatre, in Lincoln, NH (2006). He graduated from WesternMichiganUniversity in 2002. Evan’s parents were teachers for the U.S. Military, so he was born and raised overseas. Being exposed to opera at an early age in Germany, he is very grateful to be designing opera for the first time himself, here at Opera in the Ozarks. Dr. Matthew Mailman - Conductor Dr. Matthew Mailmanis Professor of Conducting in the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma CityUniversity, a position he has held since 1995. Heserves as Music Director for the Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company and Conductor of OCU’s award-winning Wind Philharmonic. In the twelve years since his appointment, he has conducted twenty-two operas and musicals and has led the Wind Philharmonic in seven world premieres, on five tours, at two Oklahoma Mozart Festivals, and at five convention performances. He teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and coordinates OCU’s Masters in Conducting program. Recent opera performances include Die Zauberflöte, La Bohème, and Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Dr. Mailman hosts a weekly radio program on music for band, "No Strings Attached”, on 90.1 FM KCSC Edmond-Oklahoma City/ 91.9 KBCW McAlester on Saturdays at 10:00 AM CST. The show is also available by web streaming world-wide (www.kcscfm.com/listen_now.asp). Dr. Mailman has been a conductor with the GuyFraserHarrisonAcademy since 1997, and is the conductor of the Harrison Academy Symphonic Winds. His work has been published in The Instrumentalist and Teaching Music, and he is a research associate and writer for the series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (every band volume in the series). Southern Music publishes his arrangement of Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2, K. 314 for Harmonie. Brian Osborne - Head Coach Brian Osborne has recently joined the music faculty at The University of Mississippi in Oxford. He has appeared regularly as coach accompanist and rehearsal pianist on the musical staff of various opera companies throughout the country, including Knoxville Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Ash Lawn-Highland Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Virginia Opera, Augusta Opera, Regina Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera North, and Brevard Music Center. His contributions to productions have included a wide range of repertoire, including La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, Tosca, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, Sweeney Todd, Little Women, Annie Get Your Gun, Carousel, Die Fledermaus, and many others. He is active on the recital stage appearing this season with mezzo soprano Lorraine DiSimone, baritone, Mark Walters, clarinetist Dr. Michael Rowlett, and numerous students at the University of Mississippi. He also presented vocal master classes at ShorterCollege, MiddleTennesseeStateUniversity and The University of Kentucky this year. He has worked with numerous schools and universities as a staff vocal coach and lecturer, including Manhattan School of Music, BrenauUniversity, SimpsonCollege, and PiedmontCollege. Brian is also an active vocalist, appearing last fall with the Ole Miss combined choirs as the bass soloist for the Mozart Requiem. His alma maters include The University of Georgia, FloridaStateUniversity, and The University of Tennessee. Maribel Sorensen - Head Costumer and Designer Maribel resides in the city of Fresno with her very supportive husband. She has a BA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of New York and a BA in Fashion Merchandising from Fresno State, CA. She has worked professionally in Theatre for 9 years. She currently enjoys working for the Fresno Grand Opera as the costume designer. She has costumed operas like “La Cenerentola”, “South Pacific”, “Otello”, & “Merry Widow”, “Manon Lescaut”. She has worked full time for Good Company Players dinner theatre in Fresno for many years on over 80 plays, involving musicals and black box theatre. She has designed such shows for them as “Anything Goes”, “Amadeus”, “Guys and Dolls”, “The Women”, & “The Nerd”.She also runs a successful business “Interiors By Design”, fashioning homes with window coverings and interior design consulting. In her spare time she also runs the costume, set design & backdrops for her home town church, Clovis Hills.She has a passion for theater and aspires to work on a big motion picture in the future! Dr. Charles Turley - Associate Stage Director Dr. Charles Turley (Director of Scenes and Outreach), a veteran of five seasons of mainstage performances at Opera in the Ozarks since 1997, returns for his second consecutive year as a member of the directorial staff.He works during the year as Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at the University of Oregon in Eugene.He received his education at Jacksonville University (BM); the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (MM); and the University of North Texas (DMA).Dr. Turley, a two time Regional Finalist in the Met Auditions, has performed more than 35 operatic roles in the US and Italy since 1994, including Marcello (La Bohème), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Falke and Frank (Die Fledermaus), Sid and Vicar Gedge (Albert Herring), Gianni (Gianni Schicchi), Germont (La Traviata), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), and Escamillo (Carmen).He has directed operatic productions and scenes at the University of Oregon, the University of North Texas, MercerUniversity, OuachitaBaptistUniversity, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Opera in the Ozarks.As a concert soloist, Dr. Turley has performed with the Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy, Oak Ridge Symphony, East Texas Symphony, the Denton Bach Society, Macon Symphony, the Crested Butte Music Institute, and the Richardson Symphony, among many others.In summer of 2006, Dr. Turley was a national semi-finalist in the NATS Artist Awards Competition in Minneapolis.This July, Dr. Turley will sing a number of solo recitals at the Wintergreen Arts Festival in Virginia, and will perform the title role in the U.S. premiere of Respighi’s 1935 edition of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Carol Werner-Feiertag - Stage Director Carol Werner-Feiertag was born in New York into a career military family. When Carol was a young girl, her father was stationed in Germany, and Carol began dancing with the Frankfurt Ballet. Later, while attending school in Great Britain she began to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and became thoroughly bitten by the theater bug. Upon returning to America, Carol continued to study acting, directing, scenic and costume design and acted in theaters across the country.She attended Stephens College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing. After graduation, Carol continued to work in all facets of theater both on stage and off.Some of the companies for which she has worked include; The Asolo State Theater, Riverside Theater Company, Venice Little Theater, The Players, Florida Studio Theater, Sarasota Ballet, Okoboji Summer Theater, Interlochen School of the Arts, Chautauqua Theater Company, Ringling Brothers- Barnum and Bailey Clown College.She has served as the Artistic Director of the Warehouse Theater Company and headed up a summer theater program for children in Venice, Florida.She was the Director of Production for the Natchez Opera Festival for two seasons and of the Utah Festival Opera for five seasons. Carol was hired to work with the Sarasota Opera almost 19 years ago and has not looked back from opera since.She continued with Sarasota Opera for five seasons and went on to work with companies such as the Florida Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Fresno Grand Opera, Central City Opera, Harrisburg Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, California Opera, Mobile Opera, Madison Opera, Natchez Opera Festival and many more to come. Carol's opera directing credits include Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Boheme, The Crucible, Die Fledermaus, Susannah, Starbird, The Face on the Bar Room Floor, La Traviata, Carousel, Pinocchio, Pagliacci, Le Nozze di Figaro, Aida, Rigoletto, Otello, Turandot, and Gianni Schicchi.Her upcoming engagements include Madama Butterfly and Porgy and Bess with the Fresno Grand Opera, Le Nozze di Figaro and Susannah with the Opera in the Ozarks, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Salt Marsh Opera. Carol is a member of both Actors' Equity and the American Guild of Musical Artists. While at home in New York, Carol is busy with her studio and is much in demand as a coach and a teacher. Her spare time is devoted to her husband, the fabulous bass, David Feiertag, and her two dogs, Gracie and Henry. Melissa Zindel - Coach/Répétiteur Melissa Zindel is a pianist from Illinois, currently living in Little Rock. She holds a Master of Music degree in Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.In Houston, Melissa studied with Timothy Hester, and also enjoyed the privilege of working in the voice studios of Katherine Ciesinski, Timothy Jones and Joseph Evans. She was also one of a handful of accompanists chosen to participate in the Revitalization of the Art Song Recital program through New Triad for Collaborative Arts and the Texas Music Festival in 2005. Presently, Melissa is a staff accompanist at the University of Central Arkansas, where she coaches and performs with students in the opera program and voice studios. She has also performed with Wildwood Opera, and serves as rehearsal pianist for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.Since arriving to Arkansas in 2006, Melissa has taught piano at the UCA Community School of Music, as well as the Adventures in the Arts Community School in Little Rock.In addition, she continues to perform as a chamber musician and freelance accompanist across Texas and the Midwest.